Friday Favorites

Hey hey! It's Friday!

I'd like to introduce you to Newton! Newton is a sweet 40lbs Lab-mix that we're fostering for a few weeks. He has been chosen be a rescue group in Florida and needed a home before making a road trip to the sunshine state. He had been in the Dekalb County pound 8 months so it felt so good to get him to our home, give him a bath, and lots of belly rubs. He's super cuddly and wants to be wrapped around you constantly...which Townes doesn't love, to be honest! He's such a great dog (and doesn't shed!) and it'd be awesome if someone wanted to adopt him *wink wink*! 

One of my favorite Bob Dylan songs with some amazing 1960's footage from London.

 I am enamored with this house on Lake Superior. The upstairs bunk room is adorable!

This video is best way to start the weekend! A perfect reminder to always dance like no one's watching. :)

The perfect sweater for Fall. Too cute!

Curious of your Uber rating? Here's an easy way to find out! Not to brag, but I have 5 stars.

I'm on my way to NYC for 1 day to have some meetings and then head to my first MLS soccer game to see the NYC Red Bulls take on Orlando, Should be fun!

The rest of the weekend will be spent with the household of boys and then celebrating Nana's 89th birthday! If you're in ATL, there's a lot going on this weekend that sadly I will miss, but you should go: Greek Festival, Hannibal Burress at Alive5, Duluth Fall Festival, and the Gwinnett County Fair!

Have a great one!

xo

Happy Fall Y'all

 Despite loving Summer, I'm ready for Fall!

I'm excited for the leaves to change colors and for perfect nights on the back porch with the chiminea (sadly, we don't have a fireplace...sighs) with apple cider.

I've already got mums on the front stoop and now I've got to get some pumpkins!

Here's a great Autumn bucket list I found (although I must admit that some of these don't apply to me since I don't have kids yet)! My favorites from this list are "go on a nature hike" and "watch "It's a Great Pumpkin,Charlie Brown'" (which is already a tradition in our household...even without kids :))!

We also have a special guest coming to stay with us for a few weeks tonight so I'm excited to show him around the neighborhood tonight and enjoy the first night of Fall!

More to come :)

What are you must excited about for Fall?

xo 

Weekend Recap

Oh Monday...it's you again.

Hope your weekend was swell.

On Friday evening, J + I went to see the new movie "Everest" on IMAX. It was so good and the views of the mountains were absolutely breathtaking. It's a must-see, but be prepared to be emotionally exhausted afterwards.

On Saturday, I enjoyed a sunny morning outside on the back porch while Townes sunbathed, per usual. Then we went for a walk and enjoyed this upcoming Fall weather! As always, Townes's favorite place is in the water (playing with the ball by himself).

 After our walk, we spent time around the house (picking peppers and tomatoes from the garden) and rearranging furniture.

 We're getting so close!

We got these new chairs from Wayfair and this awesome stool to use as an accent table. J thinks that the chairs are too big for the space since our front door is directly to the left in this photo and the hallway to the rest of our house is on the right. We got some great feedback from friends on Facebook and are going to play around with the space a bit (primarily the wall layout) and we did go ahead and add some small pillows. If you have any suggestions, we're all ears!

Here are some more pictures of our new living room layout:

 On Saturday evening, we headed down to Blue Willow Inn for Grandma + Papa's 60th wedding anniversary! We all enjoyed our southern food and great company! It was the first time everyone from the family was together in 5 years (wish I had a photo on my phone of everyone)!

We ended the night by watching "The Summit" on Netflix (in staying with the mountaineering tragedy theme from Friday night's movie selection). It was really good and reminds me to stick to hikes that are not in the death zone!

On Sunday, we went to Pet Supermarket near our house and did a Lifeline adoption event. Sadly we didn't get too much traffic and it was way too hot (89 degrees) to have the dogs outside for too long. We did get in some good walks with the dogs (although they kept wanting to stop in lay in the grass...I didn't mind obliging them)! :)

For dinner, I made this tofu, okra, and dirty rice recipe. 

It was good, but not necessarily something I'd cook again. 

We ended the weekend by watching the new movie "Digging for Fire" and laying low.

How was your weekend?

xo

Friday Favorites

TGIF!

It's been such a great week! Due to the holiday, my company gave us off Thursday + Friday and there have been so many awesome birthday wishes and celebrations!

With the rainy weather today, I'm wishing I was at any of these top Florida swimming holes. Bucket list!

Found these 4 keys to responding instead of reacting super helpful. Deep breaths are always the best!

This Chris Farley documentary looks so good. I just watched a SNL marathon for a bit yesterday and it reminded me how talented he was (so much physical comedy skills for a heavy guy)!

This kitten video is precious. Wait for the surprise, it's worth it!

Check out some of the last photos taken of Frida Kahlo. She was so magnificent.

Can reading make you happier? I knew there was a reason I enjoyed it so much. 

"Reading has been shown to put our brains into a pleasurable trance-like state, similar to meditation, and it brings the same health benefits of deep relaxation and inner calm. Regular readers sleep better, have lower stress levels, higher self-esteem, and lower rates of depression than non-readers. "

Hope you have an awesome holiday weekend and get outside as much as possible!

xo

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday! 

Thankfully it'll be a short week since our company gives us 2 vacation days around the July 4th holiday! This weekend was a great one - filled with so many friends, great food, and down time. 

The best part about the CSA in the summer is the huge tomatoes! Well that, and the fresh fruit. Tomato sandwiches are a classic southern staple.

It felt so great to get back in the gym...I had really missed my Friday night Zumba classes.  

 After the gym, I met up with a bunch of friends at Midway Pub to watch the US vs. China Women's World Cup game. I immediately killed my workout with these veggie dogs (for the record, I didn't eat all of them and they are small :))!

 On Saturday, after cleaning the house + mowing the lawn, I went over to my sister's house with my mom to see their new house and see their 4-day-old kittens! Cuteness overload!

Afterwards, I headed to my dear friends' house (Chanel + Jan) to celebrate their little boy Henry's 3rd birthday and meet their little girl Evelyn! As always, the party was incredible and the pirate theme was so fun! It was great to catch up with so many old friends.

 On Sunday, my best friend Beth met me at the gym at 8 AM for spin class. I had never been to a spin class before and it was great having her there to show me the ropes. It was a great workout and I feel so lucky to have a best friend who enjoys doing stuff like this with me! She made the point that we've been working out together intermittently for over 10 years when we used to go dance at the YMCA in Athens together! I'm so lucky. We came home and had coffee on the back porch and it was lovely. 

 I had asked a few of our closest friends to come over for a last minute brunch to celebrate my upcoming birthday...honestly though, I would have used any excuse to get these folks together! Anna and Victor got me a flower plant and the new Aziz Ansari book, "Modern Romance!"

The food spread was amazing. Everyone brought a dish: we had breakfast casserole, banana muffins, fruit salad, and home fries. We also had mimosas and beermosas (keeping it classy)! I even broke out some china that we got from J's grandparents.

 Little man Jake stole the show and he was so good despite being passed around constantly! :)

 The ladies ♥

With all of the rain and sunshine lately, we've had some glorious sunsets. How crazy is this destruction of the church down the street? So sad - I loved that old steeple.

After the brunch and taking a walk, I went over to my friend Amy's house for her birthday celebration (Cancer signs are the best!) and got to see some friends and meet new ones! Amy is the cutest and so is her dog, Bacon. My friend Johnny sure is a lucky guy :)

Overall, it was a busy weekend, but one filled with so many loved ones and fun. Summertime is the best time...hands down! How was your weekend?

xo